The Black Codes: After The Civil War

Winning the war was the easy part. Next the Union had to accomplish the daunting task of reconstruction. It had to reconcile with the hostile South, who had just attempted to secede from the Union. The slaves who expected freedom in exchange for their efforts in the Civil War, and the North, who were still basking in their momentous victory in the Civil War. The road to reconstruction would be paved with its share of issues, whether it be the paradox of sharecropping, which was doing little to nothing to differentiate itself from slavery; or the menacing black code, which intimidated free blacks to forego their brand new civil rights, and avoid things like voting, and pursuing occupations other than farming. Then, there were the enforcers of
They immediately began to search for ways to deprive them from their newfound freedoms granted to them in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. They managed to articulate their views into the laws that came to be known as the Black Codes. Made by individual states, these were sets restrictions on how freed blacks could do things such as switch occupations, move, or hold office. As said on page 568, “They sought to keep blacks subordinate to whites by subjecting blacks to every form of discrimination.” The Black Codes were essentially statements of defiance towards the then progressive views of the North. For instance, not a single black code allowed free blacks to vote or hold office, which were both in direct contradiction with federal law. The Black Code also sought to keep the freed blacks available as a labor source, as they’d done with slaves. “For instance, many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested as vagrants and fined or forced into unpaid labor. (History)”. The blacks who didn’t have an employer, or wished to switch employers before the end of the contract would be forced into what was effectively another form of slavery, unpaid
The group quickly grew, forming dens throughout the South. As said on page 580, “The Ku Klux Klan sought to restore racial subordination in every aspect of public and private life (580).” The Ku Klux Klan was against black freedom, and anything that could help blacks be fully integrated into society as equals. That is why some of their trademark attack areas were black schools, men who failed to bow to whites, and women who dressed up nicer than they felt they should. There was little in the South to stop the force known as the KKK. As said by a Florida sheriff, “If a white man kills a colored man in any of the counties of this State-you cannot convict him